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Sheila Travis #4
Somebody's Dead in Snellville
Mike Lindenthal, the successful young executive editor of New York's Beyond magazine, has his hands full when popular West Coast TV talk-show host Bangor Laudicek threatens a lawsuit against the magazine. Bangor claims to have been misquoted and portrayed as condoning drug use by a writer who has attacked him in print before. Retained by Beyond, Manhattan's top libel lawyer, Robert Struiker, flies out to Los Angeles with Mike in tow, determined to contain the damage and settle out of court. To this end he intends to give Bangor what he wants most - the errant writer's head on a platter.
Mike's loyalties to the magazine are tested when he finally meets the writer, beautiful, off-the-wall Trilla McGuffy, but his conflict of interest is dissolved when Bangor Laudicek falls nineteen floors to his death.
"She can say anything she wants about him now," Struiker sneers. "You can't libel the dead."
Unraveling the complex web of relationships connecting a cast of bizarre characters to Bangor, Mike and Struiker produce chilling answers that come with sudden, mind-shattering violence.
Mike's loyalties to the magazine are tested when he finally meets the writer, beautiful, off-the-wall Trilla McGuffy, but his conflict of interest is dissolved when Bangor Laudicek falls nineteen floors to his death.
"She can say anything she wants about him now," Struiker sneers. "You can't libel the dead."
Unraveling the complex web of relationships connecting a cast of bizarre characters to Bangor, Mike and Struiker produce chilling answers that come with sudden, mind-shattering violence.
246 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1992
10 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
About the author
Patricia Sprinkle
47 books94 followersAka Patricia Houck Sprinkle.
When I met and married Bob, he looked over our budget and demanded, "Why don’t you write a mystery to pay for all the ones you buy?" I immediately knew I wanted to put a body in a building where I’d once worked. However, being over-endowed with the Protestant ethic, I wrote "important" things first and only wrote the mystery in my spare time, so my first mystery, Murder at Markham (reissued by Silver Dagger in 2001), took thirteen years to complete. It took even longer for me to learn that any writing which gives me pleasure is important, whether fiction or non-fiction.
Since 1988 I have written twenty mysteries, four novels, and five non-fiction books. I am grateful to my readers and editors for letting me do what I enjoy most in the world. Bob has concluded that writing is not a profession, it's an obsession--my favorite vacation is to go to a place where somebody else fixes my meals and where I can write more than I do at home, without interruptions. Thanks, if you are one of the readers who keeps my fingers on the keys. I enjoy spending time with you at conferences, book clubs, and signing events.
When I met and married Bob, he looked over our budget and demanded, "Why don’t you write a mystery to pay for all the ones you buy?" I immediately knew I wanted to put a body in a building where I’d once worked. However, being over-endowed with the Protestant ethic, I wrote "important" things first and only wrote the mystery in my spare time, so my first mystery, Murder at Markham (reissued by Silver Dagger in 2001), took thirteen years to complete. It took even longer for me to learn that any writing which gives me pleasure is important, whether fiction or non-fiction.
Since 1988 I have written twenty mysteries, four novels, and five non-fiction books. I am grateful to my readers and editors for letting me do what I enjoy most in the world. Bob has concluded that writing is not a profession, it's an obsession--my favorite vacation is to go to a place where somebody else fixes my meals and where I can write more than I do at home, without interruptions. Thanks, if you are one of the readers who keeps my fingers on the keys. I enjoy spending time with you at conferences, book clubs, and signing events.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 11, 2022
The setting for this novel is Snellville, Gwinnett County, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. Sheila Travis becomes involed in the family of neighbor Sara Sims Tait when the two take a cake to Grandma Sims. Then Sara Sim's mom is murdered, and her Great-uncle Billy and Cousin Wart plus Wart's dog Bull are also found dead. Can Sheila, with help from her Aunt Mary, figure out what is going on? This was the fiirst book I've read with a setting in Snellville. It was a somewhat confusing story with a lot of characters coming and going, relationships given but hard to remember, and unrelated folks showing up and playing a part Be sure to consult the relationship diagram in the first third of thebook - it may prove to be helpful.
August 21, 2025
Sheila Travis Series, Bk #4, HBBK-B, Jeanne Shumaker, @ 8/1992, Read 8/20/2025. Fiction, Mystery.
My cousin loaned me this book because we both enjoy mysteries, and I had never read this author. Jeanne lives in Snellville, in Gwinnet County, and thought I might enjoy it. Didn't get to it for a very long time, and finally found it buried on my bookshelf.
Well, it was time to read it and give it back!!!
Sheila Travis and her Aunt Mary must work together to uncover the murders in neighbor Sara Sims family. Were they committed by just one person, or more? Were they committed by strangers or family? And why?
3☆'s = Good - not easy to put together!
My cousin loaned me this book because we both enjoy mysteries, and I had never read this author. Jeanne lives in Snellville, in Gwinnet County, and thought I might enjoy it. Didn't get to it for a very long time, and finally found it buried on my bookshelf.
Well, it was time to read it and give it back!!!
Sheila Travis and her Aunt Mary must work together to uncover the murders in neighbor Sara Sims family. Were they committed by just one person, or more? Were they committed by strangers or family? And why?
3☆'s = Good - not easy to put together!
June 30, 2014
Upon hearing Patricia Sprinkle speak at a Friends of Georgia Libraries meeting a few years ago, I loved her infectious positivism. In addition to her upbeat outlook, her modus operandi seems to be to "go and do it now," no hesitating or dragging of feet. Finding these same characteristics in her books, I'm really enjoying her southern characters as Sheila and Aunt Mary poke their noses into and sometimes are dragged into events in the lives of others. Somebody's Dead in Snellville made for a fun, lazy Sunday, and I just had to keep goofing off today until I made it to the conclusion of the mystery.
July 25, 2015
Ordinarily I love Patricia Sprinkle but this was probably my least favorits of all her books. The problem was that practically everyone of the many characters were irritating. The only one I liked was Andy, a neighbor of Sheila Travis (the main character detective. Sara Sims, one of the major players was a royall pain. Nuf said.
November 1, 2010
Liked the book will know how much after reading another Sheila Travis mystery.
June 20, 2015
Actually started this and realized I had already read it. However I did enjoy it the first time. A light read, full of southern culture and expressions.
October 3, 2015
I've read other Sheila Travis mysteries and enjoyed them very much. This one was a bit of a let down. I think my expectations were too high.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews